Hawkins Centers of Learning
Hawkins Centers of Learning (HCoL), a 501C3 chartered in 2005, serves the educational community by preserving, translating into practice, and extending the ideas of Frances and David Hawkins.
Our work includes:
Board of Directors
Hawkins Centers of Learning (HCoL), a 501C3 chartered in 2005, serves the educational community by preserving, translating into practice, and extending the ideas of Frances and David Hawkins.
Our work includes:
- Providing workshops, gatherings, writings, and presentations that investigate, articulate, and deepen their work
- Preserving the historical record of their ideas in the form of books, correspondences, articles, papers, and a collection of OUTLOOK, the magazine of the Mountain View Center for Environmental Education
- Facilitating and provoking dialogues that explore and promote their ideas within the education community and among the general public
- Development of “Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child: The Philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins,” a museum-quality exhibition exploring historical and contemporary examples of their pedagogy
- Support of working-groups dedicated to our mission
Board of Directors
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Ellen Hall: Co-Founder, Board Chair
With over 40 years of experience in Early Childhood Education, Ellen is the Founder and Executive Director of Boulder Journey School, an innovative school for young children in Boulder, Colorado. She is Adjunct Faculty and Executive Director of the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program, created by Boulder Journey School in partnership with the Colorado Department of Education and the University of Colorado Denver. The Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program offers candidates a teaching license in Early Childhood Education and a Master’s Degree in Education and Human Development. Ellen’s book, Seen and Heard: Children’s Rights in Early Childhood Education, (2011, Teachers College Press), written with J. Rudkin, is profoundly influencing educators’ views of children’s participation in their communities. She presents and consults nationally and internationally on topics that include children’s rights, supportive social learning, educational leadership, teacher education, and social constructivist learning. Ellen is Co-Founder and Vice President of Videatives, a web-based educational resource company. She is co-leader of the Working Group on Children’s Rights and a member of the International Advisory Group of the World Forum Foundation, Lincoln, Nebraska. Ellen is Board President, Dimensions Educational Research Foundation, Lincoln, Nebraska; Board Member, International Child Resource Institute, Berkeley, California; Board Member Law and Civics Reading and Writing Institute, Chicago, Illinois; and Founding Board Member and Board Chair, Hawkins Centers of Learning, Boulder, Colorado. She is a Founding Board Member, North America Reggio Emilia Alliance, Atlanta, GA. She also serves on the Advisory Board, Resource Area For Teaching, Denver, Colorado and on the Colorado ECPD Advisory Group, Denver, Colorado. |
Deborah Dumont: Co-Founder, Board Treasurer
Deborah focuses on progressive education, and educational reform and advocacy- with an emphasis on children of poverty. Her 35-year career includes leadership positions in schools, and in a broad range of educational organizations and projects. Positions have included Head of Schools in two NAIS schools, and executive positions at Educate and Aramark Work/Life Partnerships, two multi-national education companies. She co-founded Videatives, (a teacher education company), and ran a research and consulting practice focused on early education, K-12 school reform, and systemic change. Deborah has published on topics ranging from professional development models, to attachment theory applied in adolescence, to the influence of school building and classroom design on learning. She is a Trustee of the Hyde Leadership Charter School in the South Bronx and was elected President of her local school board. |
Alison Maher:
Board Secretary Alison Maher has been in the field of Early Childhood Education for over 20 years and has demonstrated expertise in leadership, strategic planning, curriculum development, innovative education and public relations. Alison has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Virginia and a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Colorado Denver. She has been an Educator and Director at Boulder Journey School since 1993, where she collaborates with a team of 3 School Directors, who work closely with 75 educators and 225 families of children ages 6 week to 6 years. She is also the Teacher Education Program Director of a graduate program in Education and Human Development in partnership with the University of Colorado Denver and the Colorado Department of Education and through this program, has worked with hundreds of graduate students working in early childhood settings. Additionally, Alison has provided educational consulting to a wide variety of public and private preschool and elementary schools in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Japan and Australia. As a consultant, she has supported development of quality early childhood programs at the World Bank and Google. Alison currently serves on the board of Hawkins Centers of Learning and in the past, has been a board member at the Boulder County Association for the Education of Young Children, Friends School in Boulder, Colorado and a committee member for the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance. |
Tom Fisher: Hawkins Family Representative
Tom is Frances and David’s grandson. Since 1999, he has taught third and fourth graders at Breakwater School in Westbrook, Maine. Tom believes in sustainable learning and encourages his students to be self-reliant and self-motivated. A former photography instructor at the Maine Photographic Workshops, Tom shares his passion for photography with his students, helping them create short films and multi-media projects. He earned a B.A. in geology from Vassar College. |
